Stocking protector



April w, 1935. H. H. ROWLAND 3,999,7?

STOCKING PROTECTOR Filed March 21, 1953 Patented Apr. 30, 1935 iJNrrsDsra'rss' STOCKING PROTECTOR Herman H. Rowland, New York, N. Y.

Application March 21, 1933, Serial No. 661,913

3 Claims.

My present invention relates to footwear and more particularly to animproved stocking protector for use in footwear and the like.

In footwear, various improvements have been made to cause the same tomore closely fit the shoe of the wearer, not only to insure comfort inuse, but also to eliminate relative movement between the foot of thewearer and the shoe structure in order to reduceto as great a degree aspossible the wear on socks and stockings incident to such relativemovement. Regardless of how carefully the shoe is constructed, it hasbeen impossible to so construct the shoe as to fit the foot and have anentire absence of relative -movement between the shoe and the foot ofthe wearer.

The greatest movementbetween the foot of the wearer and the shoestructure occurs at the heel of the shoe, and the incessant chafingbetween the foot of the wearer and the shoe results in the rapid wearingof the heels of the stockings. lhis is particularly true with regard topresent day light weight stockings worn particularly by women, althoughsuch wearing of the heel of the stocking is not by any means confined towomen. With very light weight stockings it is practically impossible todarn or otherwise repair the same and having anything other than anill-looking stocking. Consequently, the wearing of a hole in the sockingnecessitates the permanent discarding of the stocking with the resultthat a considerable portion of the cost of clothing is in the item ofstockings, particularly with regard to women.

In my present invention, I have devised an improved device forpreventing not only the chafing effect on the heels of a stocking butalso a device which will to a certain degree correct the tendency on thepart of stockings to move to one side or the other of theheel of thewearer.

My device consists of a separate piece of material which is secured tothe inner face of the rear portion of the shoe structure and which whenin normal position houses entirely within the outline of the shoe andthe same is not visible when relative movement between the shoe of thewearer and the shoe structure takes place.

The material of which my device is composed may be anything desired asfabric, rubberized fabric, leather, or any other suitable wear resistingmaterial.

An object of my invention, therefore, is an improved stocking protectorfor boots, shoes and 5 the like.

An object of my invention is an improved relatively movable guard forinterposition between the heel of a stocking and a shoe structure.

An object of my invention is an improved device for assisting inmaintaining a stocking in proper position on the foot of the wearer.

Other objects and novel features of the device will appear as thedescription of the invention progresses.

Fig. 1 is a front view of a length of flat tubular material from which aplurality of protectors embodying my invention may be cut;

Fig. 2 is an end view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an elevation of one of my improved protectors as cut from thematerial shown in Fig. l, and

Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation through a rear portion of a shoe andshowing an improved protector embodying my invention in position there-Referring to Figures 1 to 4 inclusive, it designates a flat tubularstructure of any desired material, such as rubberized fabric, leather,arti-- ficial leather, the height of such tubular memher, as viewed inFigs. 1 and 2, being ordinarily slightly less than the depth of the heelportion 4'! of a shoe structure 48.

Referring to Fig. 3, there is shown a structure embodying this latestmodification of my invention and it will be noted that such structure isof an inverted truncated cone shape in elevation and I have designatedsuch element by the reference numeral 19. A plurality of such elementsit may be cut from the flat tubular material th by any suitable means asin a cutting die, and it will be noted that the only waste in the use ofsuch material is the substantially triangular sections Eli at the endsof the flat tubular material 56. After being cut from the material tfi,the members 5.9, which are the members that embody this modification ofmy invention, are preferably though not necessarily, provided across oneface with a band 51 of adhesive, such band being removed from the upperand lower limits of the member t9, and by suitably manipulating theadhesive 5i, the member #9 is placed in operative position within theheel portion #i'l of the shoe structure 43, and it will be noted thatthe proper position as indicated in Fig. 4. requires that the upper rolledge of the'member 19 is normally slightly below the upper open edge ofthe heel ii and that the lower roll edge of the member 49 is slightlyabove the bottom of the heel portion 41.

I prefer to use adhesive, although it is obvious that any other form ofdevice or material of fastening the member 49 in place within the shoestructure 58 may be employed without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

Further, ordinarily, the material of which the fiat tubular member 55 iscomposed allows the forward side of the members 45- that is the lefthand member as viewed in Fig. 4, to be moved upward and downward withrespect to the rear side, that is the side to which is attached theadhesive 5 i, and that in such movement the minimum amount of frictionis developed. There fore, the heel of the wearer will adhere to thefront side of the member :39 and any limited movement between the heelof the wearer, and, the shoe structure 38 will not be communicated tothe heel of the wearer as that portion of the devices 58 in contact withthe heel is of course stationary as regards the heel of the wearer.

In order to increase the tendency of slippage between the inner faces ofthe member 39, I may utilize any lubricant, as for example, talcumpowder. In this form of my invention, the portion to which the adhesive5! has been applied acts when the device i9 is in position in the heelll of the shoe structure it as a limiting means to limit the upward anddownward movement of the heel of the wearer and prevents the accidentalcasting of the shoe structure 58 as may sometimes happen.

Various other forms of my invention will readily suggest themselves tothose skilled in the art and I do not, therefore, limit myself to theexact construction shown, the main feature of my invention residing in adevice having one'end attached to or formedintegral: with a shoestructure and having a roll or fold therein to connect the same to themain portion of the device, and which main portion is in engagement withand practically immovable as regards the foot of the wearer, and havingrelative sliding movement with regard to the shoe structure and whereinthe roll or fold travels along the length of the body of the device asrelative movement takes place between the foot of the wearer and theshoe structure.

I claim:

1. A stocking protector comprising a substantially fiat tubular memberof flexible material having rearward and forward portions arrangedparallel to and in sliding engagement with each other, and adhesivemeans. on the rearward face of the rearward portion, the area of theadhesive being less than the area of the engaging faces or the forwardand rearward portions, whereby the. sliding movement of the forwardportion on the rearward portion is limited by the extent of area of theadhesive.

2. A stocking protector comprising a substantially flat tubular memberof flexible resilient material having rearward and forward portionsarranged parallel to, and in practical sliding engagement with eachother, said forward portion being adapted to engage with the heel of awearer; adhesive means on the rearward portion for attaching the tubularmember to the heel of a shoe,

of the adhesive being less than the area of'the' engaging folds of theloop, whereby the limit of sliding movement of the folds with respect toeach other is controlled bythe adhesive.

HERMAN H. ROWLAND.

